Experimental Analysis of Common Rail Pressure Wave Effect on Engine Emissions

In the present study, the influence of pressure waves propagating in the ducts of common rail injection systems on engine out emission has been investigated. The pressure waves originated by the closure of the injectors are characterized by an amplitude that can easily be greater than 10 MPa. When a multi injection strategy is adopted such fluctuations can strongly affect fuel delivery rate of subsequent injections and therefore emission levels and fuel consumption.

The paper reports the results of an experimental investigation that has been carried out on a single cylinder engine equipped with a common rail electronically controlled high pressure injection system and an optical access, via endoscopes, for the visualization of soot and combustion process. The used injection strategy consisted of pilot and main injection. To allow the start of the main injection on a local pressure peak or valley without changing injection timing, injection system ducts of different length were used. In cylinder soot-formation has been analyzed on crank angle base from combustion images by means of the two-colour method. Temperature distribution inside the combustion chamber has also been measured at each crank angle with the same technique. Engine raw gas NO_x and soot emission were also measured and compared with the in cylinder measurements. The results obtained show that pressure waves affect substantially soot emissions while the effect on NOx is less sensible.